MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM

Oil Spill Module

Short Description

+45 4516 9200 Telephone

+45 4516 9333 Support
+45 4516 9292 Telefax

MIKE213_OS_FM_Short_Description.docx / IMNR / 2015-12-03

DHI headquarters
Agern All 5
DK-2970 Hrsholm
Denmark

mike@dhigroup.com
www.mikepoweredbydhi.com

DHI

Application Areas

MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM

Oil Spill Module
Accidental oil spills remind us of the dramatic
impacts that oil can have on the environment. They
also bring into focus, the importance of efficient
emergency planning. Oil spills pose serious threats
to the marine environment. They also put a lot of
pressure on the entities that are responsible for the
emergency response and clean-up operations, such
as oil companies and national authorities.
This is the background for the Oil Spill Module. The
module simulates the weathering and movement of
oil represented by discrete particles in a flow field
using a so-called Lagrangian approach. It may also
simulate the spreading of dissolved oil using
advection-dispersion calculations, which are based
on the Eulerian approach.

Features
The Oil Spill Module in MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow
Model FM includes the following features:

all weathering processes

movement of the oil on the surface and in the
water column
movement of dissolved oil independently of
non-dissolved oil
jet from a sub-sea blowout (oil and gas mix)
the effects of dispersants
clean-up using booms and skimmers
stranding with the possibility of re-entering the
water
ice edge interaction with the possibility of reentering the water

The Oil Spill Module is an add-on module to MIKE

21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM. It requires a coupling
to the hydrodynamic solver and to the transport
solver for passive components (Advection
Dispersion module). The hydrodynamic basis is
obtained with the MIKE 21 HD FM or MIKE 3 HD FM
module.

Application Areas
The Oil Spill Module can be applied in the open sea,
coastal areas, estuaries, rivers and lakes. It can be
applied in two or three dimensions. However, when
considering dissolved oil three dimensions are
recommended.
The Oil Spill Module can be applied in studies of e.g.

environmental impact assessment

single spill impacts
clean-up operations
emergency response systems
assessment of required amounts of dispersants

Jet from sub-sea blowout with mix of oil and gas. DHI

Oil Characterisation
The different types of oil are characterised through a
number of key parameters including e.g. density,
viscosity, pour point and maximum water content.
Additionally, the oil is divided into the following five
fractions:

heavy fraction
semi-volatile fraction
volatile fraction
wax
asphaltene

Each of these is described through a number of key

parameters and weathering constants.

Whirler

MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM

Weathering processes (from Fate of Marine Oil Spills, 2002)

Weathering Processes

Environmental Data Requirements

The following weathering processes are included in

the Oil Spill Module:

The following environmental data are required for an

oil spill simulation:

spreading (viscous, gravity based)

evaporation
emulsification
vertical dispersion (by waves)
dissolution
biodegradation
photo-oxidation

All of these processes and the other features in the

Oil Spill Module are handled by a MIKE ECO Lab
template. This means that all processes/features
may be inspected (and updated if so desired) using
the ECO Lab editor (an ECO Lab license is required
to use the ECO Lab editor). An illustration of the
weathering processes and their time scales are
shown above and below.

Current data in 2D or 3D. These will normally

come from a coupled or de-coupled MIKE 21 or
MIKE 3 FM simulation.
Wind data. These are used for calculation of the
surface layer drift and Stokes drift. The wind
data are also applied in e.g. the evaporation
process.
Wave data. These are used for the vertical
dispersion of the oil. Note that when oil particles
are dispersed into the water column no
evaporation will take place. This may have an
important effect on the amount of oil hitting e.g.
a coast.
Ice data (optional). Oil drifting in ice-infested
waters will follow the ice. Also, the weathering
processes will be adjusted.

Time scales for weathering processes (from Fate of Marine Oil Spills, 2002)
2

Oil Spill Module - DHI

Solution Technique

Solution Technique

Output

The oil spill simulation is executed using the MIKE

ECO Lab engine and a MIKE ECO Lab oil spill
template. The execution comprises both Lagrangian
particle tracking (including weathering processes)
and Eulerian advection-dispersion computations of
dissolved oil (optional).

A number of output types are available:

An oil spill simulation may either be run as a coupled

model together with the MIKE 21 or MIKE 3 Flow
Model FM or in the de-coupled mode. In order to
save time the de-coupled mode, where flow data
from a previous MIKE 21 or MIKE 3 FM simulation
are re-used, is normally used.

The spreading of an oil spill is calculated by dividing

the oil spill into discrete parcels, termed particles.
The movements of the particles are given as a sum
of a displacement determined by the hydrodynamic
flow field (and optionally the wind) and a dispersive
component as a result of random processes (e.g.
turbulence in the water).
The movement of dissolved oil is calculated using
the advective-dispersion formulation in the transport
solver in MIKE 21 & MIKE3 FM.

2D-maps or 3D maps (the latter only when

running the Oil Spill Module in a 3D domain)
containing the instantaneous value (as mass,
area concentration of volume concentration) or
the statistical value (min, mean, max, time
average or cell average) of all oil parameters.
These parameters include (among many):

total mass excluding water

total mass including water
oil slick thickness (2D only)
amount stranded incl. and excl. water (2D
only)
time of first arrival (2D only)

Mass budget as a time series. This is useful for

identifying how the weathering processes
affects the oil.

Particle tracks and particle properties. These

are useful for illustrating the spreading of the oil
spill. An example is shown below.

Input
Input data to the Oil Spill Module are divided into a
number of groups:

environmental data (currents, wind, wave and

ice)
current profile specification near surface and
bottom (optional)
dispersion coefficients
oil characteristics for the five fractions including
weathering constants
gas characteristics, if sub-sea blowout
spill location, depth, duration and amount
blowout characteristics
boom and skimmer specifications
possibility of oil re-entering the water after being
stranded (depending on type of coast, e.g.
sandy beach or vertical rocks)
initial conditions
boundary conditions

Visualisation of oil trajectories and current field on Google

Earth background

The oil spill may be specified as an instantaneous

spill (at the outset of the simulation) or as a spill
continuing for some time. The location may be fixed
or moving.

MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM

Graphical user interface of the Oil Spill Module showing weathering constants

Graphical User interface

The MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM, Oil Spill
Module is operated through a fully Windows
integrated Graphical User Interface (GUI) and is
compiled as a true 64-bit application. Support is
provided at each stage by an Online Help System. A
screen shot of the GUI is shown on the next page.
The common MIKE Zero shell provides entries for
common data file editors, plotting facilities and a
toolbox with utilities as the Mesh Generator and
Data Viewer.

Overview of the common MIKE Zero utilities

Oil Spill Module - DHI

Parallelisation

Parallelisation

Support

The computational engines of the MIKE 21/3 FM

series are available in versions that have been
parallelised using both shared memory (OpenMP) as
well as distributed memory architecture (MPI). The
result is much faster simulations on systems with
many cores.

News about new features, applications, papers,

updates, patches, etc. are available here:
www.mikepoweredbydhi.com/Download/DocumentsAndTools.aspx

For further information on MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow

Model FM software, please contact your local DHI
office or the support centre:
MIKE Powered by DHI Client Care
Agern All 5
DK-2970 Hrsholm
Denmark
Tel: +45 4516 9333
Fax: +45 4516 9292
mike@dhigroup.com
www.mikepoweredbydhi.com

Documentation
The MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM models are
provided with comprehensive user guides, online
help, scientific documentation, application examples
and step-by-step training examples.
MIKE 21 FM speed-up using a HPC Cluster with
distributed memory architecture (purple)

Hardware and Operating System

Requirements
The MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM, Oil Spill
Module supports Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Service Pack 1 (32 and 64 bit), Windows 8.1 Pro (64
bit), Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) and Windows Server
2012 R2 Standard (64 bit). Microsoft Internet
Explorer 9.0 (or higher) is required for network
license management as well as for accessing the
Online Help.
The recommended minimum hardware requirements
for executing the MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM,
Oil Spill Module are:
Processor:
Memory (RAM):
Hard disk:
Monitor:
Graphic card:

3 GHz PC (or higher)

4 GB (or higher)
160 GB (or higher)
SVGA, resolution 1024x768
64 MB RAM (256 MB RAM or
higher is recommended)

MIKE 21 & MIKE 3 Flow Model FM

References
Al-Rabeh, A., 1994. Estimating surface oil spill
transport due to wind in the Arabian Gulf. Ocean
Engineering 21:461-465. doi: 10.1016/00298018(94)90019-1.
Betancourt F., A. Palacio, and A. Rodriguez, 2005.
Effects of the Mass Transfer Process in Oil Spill.
American Journal of Applied Science 2:939-946.
Delvigne, G., and C. Sweeney, 1988. Natural
dispersion of oil. Oil and Chemical Pollution 4:281310. doi: 10.1016/S0269-8579(88)80003-0.
Fate of Marine Oil Spills, 2002. Page 8. Technical
Reports, The International Tanker Owners Pollution
Federation Limited (ITOPF), London.

Rugbjerg, M. 2009. Hydrodynamic and

environmental modelling in the vicinity of Scott Reef,
Coasts & Ports 2009, Wellington, New Zealand, 1618 September 2009
Sebastio, P., and C. Guedes Soares, 1995.
Modeling the fate of oil spills at sea. Spill Science &
Technology Bulletin 2:121-131. doi: 10.1016/S13532561(96)00009-6.
Xie, H., P. D. Yapa, and K. Nakata, 2007. Modeling
emulsification after an oil spill in the sea. Journal of
Marine Systems 68:489-506. doi:
10.1016/j.jmarsys.2007.02.016.

Fingas, M. F., 1996. The evaporation of oil spills:

Prediction of equations using distillation data. Spill
Science & Technology Bulletin 3:191-192. doi:
10.1016/S1353-2561(97)00009-1.
Fingas, M. F., 1997. Studies on the evaporation of
crude oil and petroleum products: I. the relationship
between evaporation rate and time. Journal of
Hazardous Materials 56:227-236. doi:
10.1016/S0304-3894(97)00050-2.
Fingas, M.F., 2004. Modeling evaporation using
models that are not boundary-layer regulated.
Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 107, 2004,
pp. 27-36.
French-McCay, D. P.,2004. Oil spill impact
modeling: Development and validation.
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 23:24412456. doi: 10.1897/03-382.
Mackay, D., I. Buist, R. Mascarenhas, and S.
Paterson, 1980. Oil spill processes and models.
Environmental Emergency Branch, Department of
Fisheries and Environment, Environment Canada,
Ottawa, ON.
Mackay, D., and W. Zagorski, 1982. Water-in-oil
emulsions: a stability hypothesis. Proceedings of the
Fifth Annual Arctic Marine Oilspill Program Technical
Seminar:61-74.
Reed, M., 1989. The physical fates component of
the natural resource damage assessment model
system. Oil and Chemical Pollution 5:99-123. doi:
10.1016/S0269-8579(89)80009-7.

Oil Spill Module - DHI